Mike Judge's "Silicon Valley" (HBO Show)

who is more self-destructive: richard or cam from halt/catch?

richard's a bit less cameron and a bit more joe macmillan in his self-destructiveness, no? (altho it's hard to compare the nuance of those characters to the clown that is richard when he's 66% of the way into transforming into his final form, Also Gavin)

richard raving over cheap fluorescent office gulag = cameron jamming econo in mobile home

Richard wants to make the best thing ever AND be financially successful but keeps kneecapping himself by not compromising on principles. I feel that Cameron had less (or close to zero) interest in financial success and just wanted to make things that people love. The financial realities just kept catching up to her.

as character arcs go, joe mcmillan dying in an opium den seems about right.

I had very low expectations and so I was agreeably surprised by this very good first ep.
The opening sequence and the running "stallions" joke were great.
Jian Yang scheme regarding Erlich was also nice (the letter scene with Ron LaFlamme !).
Even Richard's plan to mess with Sliceline was good (if only he could NOT fuck up big time for a while...).
If they maintain this level throughout the new season, I'm back on board !

The first few eps were great last season too

The gulping at the end did my brain in, enjoyed everything else, Zach Wood is so great.

Richard's inability to speak in front of people is the least funny tic that they continually rely on.

yeah, that was the weakest part of the ep. but if Richard only fucks up at this level, it's fine by me !

The meeting between Gavin and his advisers, with the fired woman, was cool too.

sliceline! it's a pun

(not really)

Gavin screaming at the gathered group that they can all wander the halls until they vest was beautiful

his company is not at all about making anything, just about keeping marketshare

i wonder if hooli is going to have an oath-style rebrand

"You know what, Fuck Banksy!"

narcoleptic plantation owner...

Jian Yang's giant bucket of cremains

laughed a lot during the latest ep

Dinesh talking about saving the planet as the main Tesla point seemed off, although it set up the joke where Gilfoyle was able to use the electric car parking spot. Surely that's further down the list of bragging rights, he'd be talking about finally getting his delivered and be all about the autopilot

the comeback for the whole "it's not really green" part is really "I'm a lazy fuck and don't have to go to the gas station like a pleb because my workplace pays the charging bill"

This was another good ep.
The whole "signature on the box" issue was great ("In what world does a signature have a signature !?").
And Richard going through the steps of the speech debacle again was expected yet funny.
Jian Yang getting Erlich's possessions in court doesn't make any sense though but, hey, why not.
Now that the guys finally have a nice office, it's time to find a new place to live, I guess.

Pretty impressive that they really did make Erlich inessential to making the show work.

Yup, they got rid of him pretty easily.
I can't think of another TV show that managed that well to keep going without its most famous/favourite character.

The show is still going, and still pretty funny, but I miss Erlich. He was the funniest guy on the show.

famous/favourite character

was he really a fan favorite ? his character was more annoying than funny imo

I get the impression that Miller thought he was playing the funniest/standout character and acted accordingly on set. It's really easy as a viewer to buy into that, but I thought he was more outsized than funny.

American audiences tend to think the loudest guy is the funniest, though

He definitely had some good lines, sometimes the best line, but mostly was the most annoying. I think american audiences may think the loudest is the funniest, but seems like fans of this show tend to lean towards the likes of Jared or Gilfoyle.

Martin Starr is a gem, for sure

I miss the Peter Gregory character more than any other that's no longer there, if we're missing characters

I love Jared, and yeah, maybe he's had the best lines, but Erlich (and TJ Miller, despite his faults) is hilarious.

I wish he was still there, just... a bit less of him

i loved that al gore line and that's totally a line they would have given erlich but now they can just spread those kinds of lines around to other people. still funny!

I'm pretty disappointed with Dinesh's development. Early on he used to have some balls and I think Kumail is honestly better at playing a sharp and witty shit talker in general than he is at playing a relentlessly pathetic loser. Dinesh at this point is basically channeling a shy awkward 14 year old grasping for validation (which makes it too easy for Gilfoyle to stomp all over him), but it was much funnier when he could actually throw punches and made for a better rivalry with Gilfoyle overall.

honestly think that gavin belson is probably the pound-for-pound funniest character. i still crack up thinking about that bulldog bit

i think their solution to losing the richard/erlich yin-yang has been to make richard a bit more asshole-ish, and therefore assertive. and that's a welcome change.

The best he can hope for is a moment where he gets to say "Wait Gilfoyle, are you seriously [points out vulnerability]?!" Otherwise he is exceedingly pathetic.

Also feel like they're both not really feeling the Tesla/parking spot bit as actors. I'm more aware they're reading lines at each other than usual.

xp to self.

i love that they kept calling richard dick.

i want richard to slowly turn into gavin.

and gavin is totally a star on this show. he's almost too perfect.

Yeah, making Richard a more completely unsympathetic asshole is a brave development and I'm a fan of that.

chekov's gun is in play, he'll shit himself by the end of the season

“I’ll pay too. Fuck you Eric”

i'm already eagerly anticipating jian-yang's presence at board meetings with his 10% of pied piper.

chekov's gun is in play, he'll shit himself by the end of the season

Chekov's bum.


Yup, they got rid of him pretty easily.
I can't think of another TV show that managed that well to keep going without its most famous/favourite character.

Blake's 7 ran for two years after Blake disappeared

Valerie ran for four years after Valerie died

The Avengers ran for 8 years after Dr David Keel left

sanford left sanford and son. but then i think he came back.

^ looked this up: he was on for 59 episodes, "went to St Louis" for six episodes, was back for another 75 episodes

cindy williams left laverne & shirley during its eighth season
ron howard left happy days after season seven
suzanne somers is probably also relevant here

there are a lot of shows that soldiered on without their “most famous” character is what i’m saying

the progressive lobotomization of christmas snow was one of the sadder moments in the 20th century.

jiggle tv: the dark side

a smart and savvy young woman reduced to a pre-verbal state. a cruel trick to play on an actor.

the hogan family

little did we know that miller was our valerie harper, and now we're waiting to see who is sandy duncan

Doctor Who has just barely struggled on for 700+ episodes since the guy that played Dr Who was fired

(he'd missed 9 of the first 133 episodes already)

this show is already better without that scumbag tj miller